A recent interview with Xbox Achievements highlighted some of the shortcomings of the Halo: Master Chief Collection and Halo 4. Will this have any effect on the Halo 5 release? I'll analyze some of the quotes made in the interview and why it may or may not be a good thing for Halo 5.
Frank O'Conner the Halo Franchise Development Director had this to say about the terrible launch and the seemingly eternal online problems,
“Halo: The Master Chief Collection is definitely a black eye for us,” said O’Connor. “We’re not going to rest on our laurels or hide from the mistakes we made. However, I will say that the nature of The Master Chief Collection - you’ve got five different game engines, you’ve got five different studios working on it, you’ve got 343 working on putting it all together - the footprint and complexity was outrageous.
Yes, this is long and extremely complicated process, but here is the thing that is frustrating. Game studios that release an "unpolished" game and expect to make up ground after launch isn't what gamers want. Even if the game was 10 years in the making, if it has a shaky launch, gamers will think these developers didn't even try. If you don't believe me, go to a search engine and research what happened with the Master Chief Collection and Assassin's Creed Unity. What does this have to do with Halo 5? It destroys consumer confidence in the Halo franchise. In my personal opinion, this is the make or break game for Halo franchise. Two straight bad launches usually means a third is right around the corner.
“To be perfectly honest, there were a lot of things that happened when we got it into a retail environment that we simply didn’t see in a test environment, so that’s what really caught us by surprise. We’ve been sort of scrambling to get it first in a playable stage and now we’re going to get it in a polished stage, so that people are getting what they deserved in the first place. We’re never going to back away from that or shy away from that."
Not only did they not foresee some of the problems with Master Chief Collection, O'Conner openly admitted they had some of the same problems with Halo 4. The didn't even beta test Halo 4 to get some of the bugs out. Even when they did beta test the Master Chief Collection they still had a disastrous launch. This screams that they don't learn from their mistakes. Granted re-doing a bunch of old Halo games isn't the easiest thing in the world, but taking your time is always a cure for uncertainty.
“However, Halo 5 is being made by a completely different team. It’s a singular product. It was built from the ground up for this new technology, rather than being sort of dragged kicking and screaming from 2001 and forced and shoehorned into a 2014 console. So the problem spaces are still very challenging but they’re radically different. I think the beta is already a decent first step, in a retail environment, showing that we don’t have the same problems.”
Here is the positive outlook that came out of the interview. I'm glad that they're openly admitting that they've failed in the past. They are not re-tooling Halo 5 they're building a brand new game. Having a successful beta is also a good sign. I love the Halo franchise! I remember playing the first Halo in a basement with all of my friends till four in the morning. I'm also optimistic that 343 Industries can learn from the past and make this the best Halo yet, but I will be waiting till after the launch to make my purchase.
Here is the full interview in its entirety.